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Steve arrived at the Munsons' trailer at the appointed time, turned off the car, and left, excited. Even after almost 8 months, just the thought of seeing Eddie left him feeling alll warm and fuzzy like this. The Steve of years ago, who used to date Nancy Wheeler, who was the king of Hawkings High School and was proud of it, would hate the Steve of now, whose best friends are a group of teenagers, a loud nosy lesbian who is currently dating his ex-girlfriend, and a metalhead freak who also happens to be his boyfriend. He loves the fact that his old self would hate his current self, because the feeling was completely mutual.
His thoughts were interrupted when he opened the trailer door, and heard Eddie and his Uncle Wayne aggressively screaming at each other.
"For once in your life, don't be so stubborn, boy!" Wayne yelled, standing in the kitchen, a forgotten cigarette in his hand, dirting the floor with ash.
"Me? Stubborn? Think about what you're asking of me, how do you expect me to react??” Eddie was yelling from his room, Steve could hear all the frustration in his voice.
Wayne sighed loudly and finally noticed Steve standing in the doorway. The boy immediately froze, he realized how much he shouldn't be there at that moment, but Wayne smiled and pointed to Eddie's room and said "He's in the room, being a little fucker" Wayne yelled the last part on purpose.
“Shut up!” Eddie went to his bedroom door to yell back, and finally saw that Steve was there. “Steve?”
“Uh… hi.” Steve replied nervously, still not knowing what to do in this situation.
Eddie went to him and took his hand, pulling him into his room and slamming the door shut. He immediately threw himself on his bed, lay down on his stomach, grabbed a pillow and buried his face in it. Steve sat down next to him and started running his hand through his hair. That always calmed Eddie down.
“What happened, babe?” Steve asked after a few minutes of silence.
Eddie said something with his head buried in the pillow, and Steve laughed. "I can't understand you like this"
Eddie moved on the bed and layed with his head in Steve's lap, who went back to stroking his hair. Eddie sighed and spoke again.
“My uncle wants me to visit my father in jail.”
Steve froze on hearing this, it was definitely not what he was expecting. When he felt Eddie's hand in his, asking him to keep caressing his hair, Steve smiled and continued the movements. He knew Eddie's dad wasn't a nice person, the other boy commented lightly about it the day they stole the motorhome, but the subject always made his boyfriend uncomfortable so he never asked for more details about it.
“I can hear your brain working from here, Harrington. You can ask." Eddie said, rolling over onto his back, head still in his lap, and lifted his arm to flick Steve's forehead.
“Ow, dude!” Steve put his hand on his forehead and blushed, feeling like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. He cleared his throat to try to hide it and said, "We don't need to talk about this."
“It all started on a summer night, where the moon shone in the great immensity of the sky!” Eddie began to speak dramatically, raising both arms as if he was acting.
Steve started to laugh, but he lowered Eddie's arms and tried to be more serious, “For real, Eddie. You don’t have to tell me anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
Eddie sat up in bed and turned his body to give Steve a peck.. "I know." He said, before going back to lie on his lap. The boy took one of Steve's hands and placed it on his belly, starting to play with his fingers.
“There's not much to say. He started out selling drugs, that's what we have in common. But he sold much heavier stuff than I do, and as he was a big loser, he ended up using some of those drugs to escape the shitty life he led. In short, he owed the suppliers, he had to steal to get money, theft turned into murder, he was caught red-handed and arrested. Apparently he's being threatened in jail and will be transferred, across the country, or to hell, it doesn't matter. My uncle wants me to visit him before then so I can say goodbye, as if I cared. The end." When he was done, Eddie smiled, but Steve could see that that smile was to disguise how bad he was feeling just talking about it. “Oh, he was also a homophobic son of a bitch who beat up his son just for suspecting he might be gay. But that had no bearing on the time of the trial, obviously.”
"Eddie..." Steve was speechless, so he just gently withdrew his hand from Eddie's hands and leaned in to hug him. Eddie resisted a little at first ("I'm fine Steve, really") but then he squeezed him tight, staying in the hug until he finally pulled away, sitting on the bed.
“Come on, love. We'll miss the movie" Eddie said, getting up and pulling Steve.
“Do you still want to go?” Steve asked, confused.
Eddie grabbed his leather jacket he was laying on the floor and put it over the Iron Maiden shirt he was wearing, then walked over to Steve, holding his face in his hands. “I'm not going to let this man ruin my date with my boyfriend. He has already done enough.”
Steve put his hands on Eddie's waist, pulling him close and kissing him. He tried to show in that kiss how much he loved the other man, because he didn't trust his words at that moment. Eddie seems to have sensed his intentions as he pulled away with a smile, put his arms around Steve's neck and kissed him again. They remained kissing softly, neither interested in deepening it, content to just feel each other, until Eddie pulled away again.
"Shall we?" He offered his hand to Steve, who took it with no hesitation.
Steve held his hand tightly and led him to the trailer door. The two walked past Wayne, who was sitting on the couch in the living room. Eddie ignored him, walking past him with his head down and heading straight for Steve's car. Steve gave a little nod in Wayne's direction, who reciprocated it, but stopped when he heard the older man call out to him.
"Steve... try to get some sense into this kid's head."
Steve put his hand on the door to leave, but nodded again to Wayne. He understood Eddie, with a father like that he would also want to forget he existed. But he also knew that Eddie had a tendency to regret decisions he made with a hot head, and right now, his head was practically boiling.
He got into the car, where Eddie was already waiting for him, sitting in the passenger seat and searching through the mixtapes he had made to listen to when he was with Steve (a mix of their musical styles), choosing one to listen to. Steve started the car and started to drive, when Eddie finally put a tape on the radio and looked in his direction.
"He asked you to convince me to go, didn't he?"
Steve squeezed the steering wheel hard. Eddie laughed and continued. "No need to worry your pretty head about it, I'll go."
He looked at Eddie, confused. “Well, that was easy.”
Eddie smirked "Well, I did say I wouldn't run away again, no matter what."
Steve placed a hand on Eddie's leg, and held his hand, intertwining their fingers. "I'll go with you." he said.
"Okay"
Eddie didn't say anything else, rested his head on the hand that wasn't holding Steve's and stared out the window at the street.
“Do you want to invite the girls? For emotional support?" Steve asked, referring to Robin and Nancy. The four of them were always together, so he figured Eddie would appreciate as much support as possible from people who cared about him right now.
"No. I love them, but… just you, please.” Eddie said, speaking softly.
Steve's heart pounded, just knowing how much the other boy just needed him right now. He lifted their still-clasped hands and kissed Eddie's. He would have to be strong enough and become the support Eddie would need right now, his boyfriend deserved that.
————
When Steve arrived Saturday morning, Eddie was already sitting on the stairs in front of his trailer entrance, his uncle right next to him. When he saw Steve's car, he got up and walked over to it, opening the passenger door and sitting next to him.
“Good morning, my pretty chauffeur. Ready to have lots of fun?” He spoke, putting his legs over the dashboard of the car and his arms behind his head.
"Wayne won't come along?" Steve asked, waving back to Eddie's uncle who remained seated on the stairs.
"Nope, he goes there every month, said he's said all he needed to." Eddie moved closer and, after looking around quickly and seeing that no neighbors were around, he gave Steve a quick peck. “It's just the two of us. In search of new adventures, like Frodo and Sam, Han Solo and Chewbacca, that guy from Grease and hairspray…”
“Eds” Steve interrupted him, Eddie always talked too much when he was nervous. Luckily Steve knew his boyfriend. "I'm here with you, it's going to be okay."
Eddie lowered his legs, sat up straight and started playing with his rings. "I know..." He looked at Steve, this time seriously. "Thanks."
Steve brought his hand up to the other boy’s face, tucking a few strands of hair that were out of place behind his ear. Then he gently caressed his face with his thumb and smiled. Eddie smiled back, and Steve turned forward again, starting the car to begin their journey.
After nearly 3 hours, they pulled into the jail's parking lot. Eddie was visibly nervous, and Steve was worried.
“Are you sure you really want to do this? We can go back to Hawkins right now.”
Eddie turned to Steve. “No running away, remember?”
Steve touched his hand quickly and the two got out of the car, heading to the reception. They had to go through a thorough search to make sure they weren't taking anything into the jail, which made Steve extremely uncomfortable ("It's for Eddie" he thought the whole time as they groped him) and went to sit down to wait to be called.
“Visitors for Christopher Edward Munson” A woman opened the door and called. Steve realized that Eddie's name was probably a tribute to his father, and felt his stomach turn.
They followed the woman until they reached a room with several tables. Other visitors were waiting at the venue, so they sat at the designated table.
Steve noticed that Eddie was almost hurting his fingers from fiddling with his rings, so he held his wrist discreetly, which made the other boy stop.
“When was the last time you saw him?” he asked, trying to distract his boyfriend.
Eddie snorted “I don't even remember anymore, I think the last time Wayne was able to bring me with him I was about 12 years old. After that I learned to run and hide until he gave up and went without me.”
Steve stroked the other boy's wrist, which he was still holding, but a moment later they saw the inmates start to enter the room and walked away.
Eddie's father, Christopher, was identical to him, only older and with shaved hair. This gave Steve the chills. Fortunately, the similarities stopped only on the physical side, because as soon as the older man sat down in front of them, he smiled and said wryly, opening his arms “My boy, I missed you!” Steve braced himself not to stand in front of Eddie, protecting him.
Eddie immediately shrank back in his chair, looking much smaller than he was. The power his father had over him was frightening.
“What? Won't you give your old man a hug?"
"No thank you." Eddie replied quietly, looking away. The other man laughed out loud and turned to Steve “Can you believe this guy? Years without seeing his daddy and he stays like that, all curled up like a scared baby.” He stopped laughing. “Who the fuck are you, by the way?”
“Steve is my friend, he gave me a ride.” Eddie answered for him, finally facing his father. "I was the one who came to visit, so I'm going to fucking ask you to leave him alone. Now.."
Where did that come from? Eddie completely changed just to see his father looking at Steve, which made the boy emotional but also worried.
“Defending your little boyfriend, boy? Do you wanna get into this boy's pants that bad?” Christopher spoke menacingly, and turned back to Steve. “You seem like a good boy, so I'll warn you. Did little Edward here tell you he's a fairy? A dirty little fag?”
Steve saw Eddie clenching his fist that was on the table, and tried to touch their feet under the table to try to calm him down. He didn't know if that was possible when he himself was seconds away from getting up to hit the man in front of him, but they had talked about the possibility of that happening while driving to the jail, so Steve was already warned. But that didn't make him hate that man any less, and clearly Eddie was feeling the same.
The older man continued talking, still staring at Steve. "I'd walk away if I were you, before he ends up seducing you like the fucking whore that he is and end up passing this disgusting fag virus to you."
Eddie tried to get up from his chair, but Steve grabbed his hand on the table, which made him stop and stare at him, confused. He smiled at Christopher. “I appreciate the concern, but I don't intend to walk away from Eddie anytime soon, because you see, besides him being my boyfriend” Steve reinforced the word boyfriend “he's the person I love the most in this world. And everyday I thank the fact that you are away from him, in jail, where you deserve to be, while the two of us are free and enjoying every second of our lives together.”
"Steve..." Eddie's eyes widened, staring at his boyfriend.
Christopher stood up and started yelling at Eddie, “You really are a cheap whore, coming over here rubbing your new man on me. I don't even want you to end up in my place anymore, as I'm sure it's going to be paradise for you, full of dicks to sit on and…”
Eddie got up too, but instead of raising his voice, he spoke calmly. "You know what? I'm not 12 anymore, so it's no use talking to me like that. I can see you perfectly fine now. You are a coward, a coward who is afraid of being spanked in a place where people can see through this whole macho faceta of yours, where they are not little children you can beat at will without suffering any consequences. So you asked to run away, like a little pussy, and now you’re using your own child once again as a failed attempt to feel superior. I'm sorry to tell you, dear father, that this won't work anymore. The only thing I feel right now is pity.”
The man was silent, as was everyone else in the room, watching the show Christopher had created. The policemen in the room were especially attentive to the situation.
“You goddamn faggot” the older man said before suddenly charging at Eddie. Steve walked in front of his boyfriend, getting punched in his place, before the guards arrived to hold the enraged man. "Let me go, I’m gonna kill this fucking fairy!"
“Steve!” Eddie bent down to help Steve, who was on the ground with the force of the punch.
“I'm okay,” Steve said, his hand on the side of his face.
The guards started to haul Christopher away, but Eddie yelled before he left, "I hope you rot in your new house, and in case it wasn't clear, you’re dead to me!"
————
Steve and Eddie were escorted to the exit, with an apology for the lack of security and an ice pack for Steve's face. Eddie went straight to the car, where he sat in silence.
"Eddie, babe..." Steve started to speak, but Eddie cut him off. saying “Just drive, please”
Steve put the ice pack on his lap, his face was already hurting less, and started driving back to Hawkins. After almost an hour of absolute silence, he heard Eddie start to cry. Steve realized he'd been holding back for a long time, and finally he couldn't take it anymore. He stopped the car off the road, which was completely empty, and got out of it, walking around and opening the door on Eddie's side. He bent down and hugged him tightly, feeling the other boy throw himself into his arms and cry out loud with his face buried in his neck.
They stayed in that position, with Steve running his fingers through Eddie's hair and whispering in his ear how much he loved him, until the other boy began to calm down. When he stopped crying, Steve pulled away and used his coat sleeve to wipe his boyfriend's face. After he was done, he planted a lingering kiss on his cheek and whispered, "Let's go home.". Eddie nodded agreeing.
They arrived at Hawkins just as it was getting dark, Eddie's favorite mixtape playing softly on the radio.
“What do you think of a movie night at my house? We call the girls, Jonathan and Argyle, the kids..." Steve put his hand on Eddie's leg playing with the hole in his jeans "we can order pizza and watch all the bad horror movies you want"
"Yeah, I want that" Eddie agreed. "But I need to go to the house first, if that's all right."
“Of course, I'll invite everyone in the meantime. You Can go when you're ready.”
Minutes later they arrived in front of Eddie's trailer. Steve tugged at his coat collar for a quick kiss and a "see you later" which Eddie responded with another kiss. He stood there watching his boyfriend enter the house, and he could see through the window that as soon as Eddie walked in, he immediately went to hug his uncle. They needed this time alone, so he went to his house to organize everything to make the night perfect for Eddie.
————
When Eddie finally arrived, everyone was already at Steve's house, including the pizzas. Steve was struggling to keep the kids away from it until his boyfriend arrived, all the while putting up with the older teenagers' jokes about him being a great housewife waiting for his husband. He decided not to say anything about what had happened, knowing that when Eddie was ready, he would tell them. The only problem was coming up with a reason for his black eye, and he really doubted that Nancy and Robin had believed for even a second his supposed fall down the stairs. He had to remember to warn Eddie to prepare for hours of questioning the next time the four of them hang out.
Eddie arrived in the living room, after opening the door to the Harrington house with the extra key that Steve's parents would never know he had, to find everyone in the room waiting for him. Steve could see, even from a distance, the other boy's relieved sigh as he saw all the people who loved him gathered in one of the places he considered his home.
Steve pulled him to sit next to him, and was grateful that they'd finally finished telling everyone in the house about their relationship, as he was definitely not going to leave Eddie's side for the rest of the night. And he could tell that his boyfriend was more than satisfied with that decision, lying with his head on his shoulder as he held his hand throughout the movie, only pulling away when he went to eat a piece of pizza.
After everyone left, the two of them went upstairs to the bedroom, Eddie immediately stole an old shirt from Steve to wear as pajamas, as usual, and they lay down on the bed.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked. “You know…about everything that happened today.”
Eddie began to run his fingers through the hairs on Steve's chest absently. "I'll be fine. I needed that. I needed to see that the image I had of that man, the image I had of when I was a kid, of him being big and strong and bigger than all… that image has totally changed now that I'm an adult. I saw him for what he really is, a big fucking coward.”
Steve felt relieved to hear those words. "You have to thank Wayne for that."
“I already did.” Eddie spoke, yawning. The day had been too exhausting for him.
“Hey” Eddie spoke again after a while. Steve thought he was already asleep, so he was just rubbing his back under his shirt.
"What?" he asked, after seeing that Eddie wasn't going to continue. The other boy just hugged him tightly, fully gluing their bodies together.
"Thanks for saving me" Eddie finally spoke, but that left Steve confused.
“Are you talking about the Upside Down again?” He asked.
"Yeah, for that too" Eddie gave a soft laugh. "No, I mean thank you for saving myself from turning into…you know…like him." Steve tried to speak, but Eddie put a finger to his lips. “I know I'm not like him, that I'm a good person, my uncle has told me that many times. But there's still that thing inside me that tells me that, well, we have the same genes. One wrong step and I could end up in the same place as him.” Eddie hugged Steve again, laying his head on his chest, “But you, all of you, have become my family. You gave me a reason to really try and be better. Did you know that I am reducing my clients until I completely stop selling drugs?”
This made Steve pull his boyfriend away from him so he could hold his face and look into his eyes. "Really?" He asked. He'd always wanted Eddie to stop being a drug dealer, but he felt it wasn't his place to demand that sort of thing. That was a decision that had to come from him.
“I don't know who would give a decent job to a supposed satanist, ex-cult leader and accused of being a serial killer, but yes. I will try to stop.”
Steve kissed him hard, turning them over on the bed until he was on top of Eddie.
"If I'd known you would have reacted like that, I would have stopped a long time ago," Eddie said, pulling Steve in for another kiss.
After they broke up, Steve kissed the rest of his boyfriend's face, and said, "You're perfect, you're the best person I've ever met and I love you."
Eddie covered his face with his hands, embarrassed "You're going to kill me like this, Harrington"
“Get used to it, Munson, for I will love you much more from this day on.” He kissed him again "You'll be sick from love"
“Yeah? Try me.” Eddie said before leaning in to kiss Steve again.
Eddie didn't hold back his tears for long, but this time they were tears of happiness. Steve kissed his cheek, where the tears were falling, and hugged him. He wasn't lying, he would show Eddie every day how much he deserved to be loved, for the rest of their lives if need be.